Reading Blog #10

Before I can apply it, I must first thoroughly understand what is meant by the term 'hegemonic masculinity'. The key part of this term is hegemonic. Hegemony is the subtle 'push' given by society (in this case) to make someone act the way that's acceptable. So, by adding the word masculinity to this, it is how society tells males to act in today's society.

A perfect example of this are general beer and alcohol commercials. The 'ideal American male' is portrayed in these commercials. Usually as a young to middle-aged man wearing a sports jersey, drinking beer with his friends. He's often seen as the hero of the party when he brings the beer in (appealing to the male's sense of hierarchy, and need to be seen as #1). Along with these images, are images of attractive, usually scantily-clad women who seem to levitate towards the beer drinkers, almost seeming to point out that a man drinking a beer is an aphrodisiac. It just seems to me that these images are attempting to reinforce the typical male American stereotype, by using images ripe with hegemonic masculinity.

Research Blog #13

The Master Of Memes.

Authors:

Grossman, Lev

Source:

Time; 7/21/2008, Vol. 172 Issue 3, p50-51, 2p, 1 Color Photograph

Document Type:

Article

Summary:

The main points of this article are simply quantitative, not giving much insight into the mentality of the website 4chan. Statistics such as monthly users, total posts, and daily hits are given, along with how the website is able to affect peoples' everyday lives, even without them really noticing it. Mr. Grossman goes into detail after an interview with 'moot' (Christopher Poole, the founder of the website) about the site's humble beginnings, and general morph into what it is today. It could be considered a mecca of internet memes. He then delves into how moot is having problems keeping the site running, with the extremely high amount of bandwidth needed.

Reading Blog #9

Discussed in Chapter 9 is the idea of 'authenticity'. Authenticity, as it applies to popular culture, could mean a large variety of things. But the most broad and easily-accepted definition is something that is original, non-replicated, and appealing to the general senses. The book gives a few words on 'authentic wilderness'. It says that authentic wilderness "came to be seen as a place free from human society, and economic activity in particular..."

So this raises the question; is it possible to witness authentic nature? Purely by the definition, once a human, or a human-made object comes into contact with this authentic nature, it is no longer purely authentic. Sure, we can see what has never been touched by man, yet, is it truly possible to know that authentic nature is exactly what we think it is? I do not believe so.

Authenticity, in my opinion, is a term that has been created, modified, and thrown around in human culture as a source of inspiration and possibly, slight ignorance. Authenticity is supposed to be seen as something that is pure, creative, and new. But still, don't all ideas originate from some previous plan? For example, some people may see a new fighter jet, and call it an authentic creation. Yet, the only way it was able to be created was by having previous knowledge of flight. (Going far enough back to the Wright brothers, who first took flight.) Yet, even the Wright brothers weren't authentic in their idea for flying. Mankind's hope to take to the skies has been shown for centuries before.

My main point being, I do not believe authenticity is something that is palpable. Instead, it is something that is ideal, theoretical, and unachievable.

Research Blog #12

After reading Chapter 8, 4chan.org can be classified as either a subculture, or a counterculture. In many cases, the members of this site have attempted to change something that they saw as 'unjust'. For example, a story came out a few weeks ago about a woman who was videotaped throwing newborn puppies into a river, letting them drown, and laughing while she did so. The members of 4chan.org attempted to track this person down, in order to make her pay for her crimes. (Their intentions on her punishment are still up for debate, whether they would take the law into their own hands, or call the authorities.)

Yet, I do believe that it should still be classified under the definition of a subculture. The site is very out-of-the-way of mainstream internet (facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc), and definitely has its own language. For example, if you ask someone off of the street what the words '4chan', 'troll', 'meme', or anything of the like means, they most likely would not give the same definition as somebody who frequents this site.

Reading Blog #7

In the film Bamboozled, we are subjected to a torrent of racial slurs, generalizations, and stereotypes. Yet, the film turns out to be comedic to us, and evokes emotions such as anger, sadness, and frustration. Why is this? Through connections of ethnicity, we are able to see into each character's mind. We know how they feel, act, and what ethnic background they are a part of. To the fullest extent, we see the use of identity as difference in this film. We are fed generalizations of each person in the movie, and whether they hold true or not, they always stay in the back of our minds.

This is how we group the characters in the movie. The gang members all have similarities, so their identity as difference is very small. However, the difference between Pierre and the senior vice president of the television network is huge, allowing us to easily discern them.

Reading Blog #5

An icon, that is quite possibly the most encountered one by anyone who happens to read this blog. It is, of course, the simplistic icon of social networking super-giant, Facebook. Simplistic as it is, it still represents more than anyone can easily imagine. The lower-case f has become symbolic of hundreds of millions of people being interconnected by a single network. Wherever you may be on the internet, it is quite likely you will see some kind of Facebook icon somewhere on the page. (Most likely, being a 'like' button, or a link that says 'Follow us on Facebook!') What is very surprising, is that Facebook no longer has to advertise, and put their logos in places. Since the Facebook logo is already everywhere, why would advertising be necessary? If you're without a Facebook page now, you can be barraged with questions as to why you don't have one. It is now, quite simply the social norm. But the symbol itself is very simple, as stated before. As much as people do not consciously realize it, humans are attracted to the simple. The more simple, or clean, something looks, the more appealing it is to our senses. But as it comes along now, other companies end up using Facebook as a propellant in their own endeavors.

Research Blog #6

I have thoroughly described the main page of 4chan.org in the last research blog. So here, I will focus on Page 0 (the default page) of the image board known as /b/ (Random). It has to be understood, before anything can be described, that this image board is commonly known as one of the most disgusting and vile places on the internet, yet so many ideas and artifacts would not be popular without it. Just taking a look at the advertisements on the main page of /b/, they are all for pornography sites. It is a good guess to say that 25% of the posts on the image board contain some kind of profanity. This could be swearing, pornography, or other less-than-acceptable images or text.

The way that the members of the board seem to be representing themselves to others on the board is through a 'dialect' of acquired humor. Yes, it is true that many of the things posted on this board can be considered profane, but the members of this site can look past the profanity, or even embrace it, and see the humor behind it. This is what makes these people stand out against others, even in different situations. In many cases, it is possible to tell that someone is a regular member of /b/ by how they act, talk, and go about certain routines.

But to others, who have not had as much experience with the site, it may just seem to be a complete array of profane humor. It definitely does take a certain person to enjoy and appreciate what goes on in the image board, but if you don't have an open mindset, you will be disgusted, and never return to the said site.

Research Blog #5 (Semiotic Analysis of 4chan.org's home page)

To start off, the homepage of this site is very, very simple. A slight tan to light tan gradient is the background of the page, possibly attempting to pull people in with its simplicity. In order to understand what the site is about, there is a quick paragraph posted, letting visitors know what is going on at the site. It urges people to just 'jump right into' a board that interests them. What I find is that by them being rather vague about everything, they are much more enticing to any visitor who comes across the site.

The only slightly cluttered part of the main page would be the list of image boards that the site offers. Over 50 are offered in list form, right on the front page. It can be a little tedious to look through, but it IS good that the administrators of the site have decided to group them, based on general topics. This will keep people interested, and they will continue looking through  this list to find new boards that interest them.

There is a very interesting logo for the site, though. Shown, are four leaves of a clover, but not attached in any way. I feel this could be their symbol of denouncing the idea of luck, by taking a symbol that is readily accepted to be 'lucky', and changing it.

Link: 4chan.org

Research Blog #4

I have narrowed my decision down to the most absurd and crude community on the website known as 4chan. This website consists of 53 separate imageboards, with topics ranging from Science and Mathematics (known as /sci/), to NSFW (not safe for work) imageboards like Hentai/Alternative (known as /d/). But the board (short for imageboard), and community, I will be studying, is the one known as Random. (/b/ for short) Through my lurking of 4chan in general, I have noticed a trend. Members who frequent certain boards come up with nicknames for the other people who frequent the same board. In these nicknames, the lettered abbreviation of the board is used in a larger word, to illustrate the ideals that the board holds. For example, Science and Mathematics' shortened abbreviation is /sci/. Members who frequent this board call themselves /sci/ducks. (a wordplay on the name of a Pokemon.) Members of the Paranormal board, known as /x/, call themselves /x/philes. (A wordplay on a popular paranormal TV show from the 90's.) Now, the members of Random call themselves /b/tards. This is a very good representation of their style of humor and how the board runs. But what really catches my eye at the first glance of this board, are all of the shock images used. This board is definitely not for the faint of heart. The images used range from gore, to pornography, to internet memes, to truly random images. To truly look into the collective psyche of this community will be a long tread indeed.

Hegemony and Capitalism

 It's quite easy to see how this picture reinforces and legitimates the institution of capitalism. It references that the ideal situation for a young woman to be in, is for her to be in love. The picture seems to reference that she was proposed to by someone, and she accepted the proposal. The dress she is wearing is most likely a wedding dress. The fact that this dress has a huge heart cut in the back, just perpetuates the idea that marriage is the perfect institution. This in itself perpetuates the stimulation of the economy. For a high-scale wedding (as this advertisement is implying), the cost is huge. It could easily re-wire $10,000, $15,000, or even $20,000 back into the economy, after the cost of the dress, service, and reception. Not to mention all of the expensive gifts, that also pump money back into the economy. (Shoes, bracelets, earrings, etc.)

All in all, this picture completely reinforces the fact that the United States thrives on the institution of marriage. Not for peoples' happiness, but instead for the money that it redirects back into the system.

Reading Blog #2

This is my first example of hegemony. In this video, we see that this is representing 'Global Politics in Thirty Seconds'. It is quite obviously a satire on how the United States works in its foreign affairs, quite often enough acting before fully justifying the actions that it does. By doing so, the country continually angers other nations.

This is quite an interesting picture. It (literally) shows a baby hedgehog holding a British coin. This could be construed as any number if different meanings, but most likely it was meant to be a cutesy play on words. (Hedgehog/hegemony) And possibly a loose satire on British economic rule. Since British currency is currently the most valuable, it may be why the hedgehog is seen holding a coin from that country.

Here is a prime example of Economic hegemony, where the credit card controls all in the United States. It takes the popular slogan 'What's in YOUR wallet?' and changes it to a more passive-aggressive 'What's in MY wallet?', and seemingly answers itself by showing a roll of money on a toilet paper dispenser. When money is so readily available for use, without any sort of immediate reprimand, then how do we have the right to complain when our country's credit debt is skyrocketing?

Research Blog #3

My final decision is 4channers. And the site that I will be using is 4chan.org.

Peer-to-Peer (File Sharing)

File sharing is a term that has been thrown around by the music and movie industries. It is not nearly as innocent as the name makes it seem, though. The term 'file sharing' refers to the use of p2p (peer-to-peer) software that allows people to send and receive music, movies, computer programs, etc. There is no question that this practice is very illegal, parallel even to walking into a music shop and grabbing all of a certain band's CDs. But no one who does this sees it as a problem. Why? There is no demand to catch the people that do this. The amount of money that it costs to catch the people that do this far outweighs the money they lose when people do steal this media.

As long as this is the truth, I will continue advising people to file share. In my opinion, the act of file sharing is the way that the current mass-media frenzy will correct itself. The only people that are hurt by file sharing are the huge producing giants, not the actors/directors/artists themselves. These people get paid during and after production, whereas the producers get paid by all the copies that are sold. Because of this, I imagine that in the future, all movies will be released independently, away from these large moguls, leaving more cash flow for the people who deserve it.

Possible Groups for the Research Project

• 4channers     
•  Dudeists     
•  Hipsters     
•  Juggalos     
•  Pachucos     
•  Preps     
• Rude Boys

Commercialism and Authenticity

The question of authenticity and commercialism being related is one that is open for debate. Yes, in many cases, it does ring true that an increase in popularity, and by consequence, commercialism, can change the value (both monetarily and morally) of the item. But then, there are other times when the two have almost no correlation. A prime example is in the music industry. In many circles, it is believed that enjoying the music of a band that no one has heard of is 'pure', and that enjoying mainstream media and music is part of the art of 'selling out'. While the term selling out can mean different things to different people, it is the embodiment of the idea of commercialism and authenticity. Many times, when a band goes mainstream, they will leave their previous fans behind for a new slurry of fans. Ones that 'fit' into a certain social circle, or the like.

Yet, there are other bands who have come to the mainstream that refuse to change for anyone. They sell masses of albums, yet do only what they feel is the correct way to do music. They perform and create music based on what feels right to them, not what their sponsors/record label/fans/etc. want from them. In this day and age, it is very rare for a music group to be popular with many people, and still keep from 'selling out'. But when it does happen, it is a perfect example of how commercialism and authenticity usually have an inverse relationship, there can be exceptions to the rule.

Pop Culture Applications Images (August 19th)

For this first picture, I have selected a (modified) version of the Yin-Yang, a symbol coming from Taoist beliefs. This is a prime example of an application of Binary Opposition. The basis of the yin-yang symbol comes from the belief that all beings have light, and darkness, within them. But within these 'sections' of being, there are opposite, underlying causes. The use of these two opposites not only come together to structure an interesting idea, but also to structure the minds of human beings themselves.

 For the second picture, I have chosen an example of Commodity Fetishism. As defined, Commodity Fetishism doesn't relate literally to this picture, but does so in a more understated way. As an example, a $100 bill is not worth $100, but only costs a few cents to make. Yet, this bill can claim $100 worth of goods. Without questioning this truth, we make purchases with paper money every day. But with this picture, a seemingly sexual double entendre, this fast food sandwich is being linked to sex, causing (hopefully) more people to buy it. For obvious reasons, it seems this is geared towards the male population.